1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hand tools and pushing implements generally, but more particularly to scrapers and shingle removers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hand tools and pushing implements for scraping and removing shingles from roofs are old and well-known in the home improvement field.
Exemplary shingle removing tools are protected by the following: U.S. Utility Pat. No. 4,086,699 which was issued to Olkkola on May 2, 1978; U.S. Design Pat. No. 265,791 which was issued to Fieni on Aug. 17, 1982; U.S. Utility Pat. No. 4,477,972 which was issued to Testa, Jr., on Oct. 23, 1984; and U.S. Utility Pat. No. 4,809,436 which was issued to Crookston on Mar. 7, 1989.
Although all of the above-mentioned tools function adequately to remove shingles on a forward stroke exerted by a worker, none of them perform any useful work on the backward stroke so that half of the energy expended by the worker is lost in unproductive motion.
Furthermore, not all of the effort exerted by the worker on the forward stroke is totally productive because some of the above-mentioned tools either miss nails or shear off the heads of such nails, instead of removing the nails with the shingles from the roof.
In order to illustrate such an unproductive forward stroke, FIGS. 1-3 show the prior art tool disclosed by Crookston in his U.S. utility patent listed above.
In FIG. 1, the prior art tool 10 of Crookston includes a handle 12 and a blade 14 which is secured to the handle 12 by a mounting bracket 16. This mounting bracket 16 has a tubular section 18 which engages a lower end of the handle 12 and a V-shaped fulcrum portion 20. The mounting bracket 16 also has a front plate 22 which is flat and extends substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the handle 12. This front plate 22 underlies a rear portion 14A of the blade 14. The blade 14 also has a forward portion 14B on which there is a plurality of teeth 24 spaced laterally along a front edge on the forward portion 14B. The blade 14 is held in place at its rear portion 14A by a fastener, such as a round-headed bolt 26A and a nut 26B, secured to the front plate 22 of the mounting bracket 16.
As the tool 10 is pushed forward along the roof R by the worker gripping the handle 12, the forward portion 14B of the blade 14 is slipped under a shingle S which is moved upwardly in the direction of a first arrow A. Continued movement of the blade 14 forces the shingle S to curve farther upwardly until the teeth 24 reach a nail N.
Referring now to FIG. 2, it can be seen that further forward movement of the tool 10 forces the teeth 24 on the blade 14 to strike a stub T of the nail N at a right angle so that most often a head H of the nail N is sheared completely off and is thrown away from the shingle S in the direction of a second arrow B. Meanwhile, the shingle S continues its upward movement in the direction of the first arrow A while simultaneously sliding over the round-headed bolt 26A in the direction of a third arrow C which is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the tubular section 18 of the mounting bracket 16.
Although it may seem innocuous to the uninitiated that the head H of the nail N is sheared off, this condition is not desirable because the leaving of a lot of short stubs T sticking out of the roof R creates many small channels through which water may enter and cause a number of leaks. A top of each stub T eventually makes a hole in any new shingle S placed thereover. The stubs T work their way through the new shingle S as the worker walks on the roof R. If such stubs T do not immediately force themselves through the new shingle S, they will do so later as the owner and other workers walk on the roof R from time to time to clean gutters, to adjust a TV antenna, to sweep leaves, and to do similar work. When the leak develops, the owner calls back the roofer to find the leak. As one can imagine, finding such a leak caused by a slightly protruding stub T is literally as difficult as finding a proverbial "needle in a haystack."
Furthermore, if the head H is not snapped off from the stub T of the nail N as shown in FIG. 2, the prior art tool 10 of Crookston may pinch the nail N as illustrated in FIG. 3. Although the head H may not always be snapped off the nail N, the stub T thereof is usually deformed by the teeth 24 as the blade 14 is pushed along the roof R in an effort to force the shingle S upwardly in the direction of the arrow A.
These deformed nails N in FIG. 3 pose a problem similar to the one posed by the protruding stubs T in FIG. 2 because, when stepped on by a worker walking on the roof R, either holes or at least indentations are made in the new shingle S, the original roof R, and the shoe soles of the worker.
Additionally, if left in the roof R on the forward stroke of the worker, these deformed nails N are not removed on the backward stroke because there is no nail puller disclosed in any of the known prior art devices for removing the shingles S from the roof R.
Thus, it remains a problem in the prior art to remove the shingles S and all nails N from the roof R without leaving any protruding stubs T and deformed nails N that will eventually break through the new shingles S and cause leaks in the roof R.